Our Tactics that Drive Online Sales - Kursor Creative

Are you running out of ideas on how to promote your old or new ecommerce website?

In this guide, we’re going to give you 14 ideas for getting more sales. We’ll also talk about how discounts, used rightly, can boost your bottom line instead of putting a dent in it.

1. End-of-season discounts: Hold it, though. Seasons have an ending as well as a beginning. That gives you four more reasons to offer special prices. When do end-of-summer discounts become fall discounts? Why not run them concurrently? After all, some goods and services are summer-related and others are perfect for autumn. Customers can stock up on goods for next summer while the prices are low, and get fall merchandise while the specials are running.
2. First purchase anniversary: Let your customers know you appreciate them by celebrating each year on the day they placed their first order with you. It’s a great reason to offer a special discount on their next purchase, and it makes you a little more special to them. Keep going with milestone anniversaries: 1 month, 6 months and 12 months. Celebrate your fans, and they’ll bring others to the fold. 
3. Other types of anniversaries: There are wedding anniversaries, birthdays, and other occasions to celebrate. Depending on your ecommerce offerings, you may even want to know the family dog’s birthday. Hey, a party is a party, and parties are always a reason to buy something special.
4. Discount vouchers and codes: Gary Gray, president of Coupon Chief, says he’s seen interest in digital coupons boom over the past few years. Since most American adults now carry a smartphone, clipping paper coupons is quickly giving way to their online counterparts. You simply browse to the site, search for the coupon you want to use, copy and paste the code, and use it for a discount on a purchase you’re about to make. Finding a coupon can make or break a sale. Shoppers with coupons buy more and they buy more often.
5. Email list sign-up discount: Online marketers often proclaim that “The money is in the list.” While your ecommerce website may not depend primarily on email marketing for business, there’s little statistical doubt about the benefits of building and utilizing a healthy database of customers and prospective customers. Your email list is a valuable tool, so why not reward those who subscribe? You get to grow your list, the prospect gets a discount, and you’re then likely to get an order. Life is good when both parties gain from the interaction.
6. Bundling discounts: Anyone buying a new printer is sure to need ink soon. Why not include an accessories discount? Another option is to combine go-together items. Pants come with a discount on belts, or snowshoes are matched up with a discount on gloves. Think a bit, and you’ll see possibilities popping out everywhere.
7. Buy more, save more: Bulk discounts are attractive to consumers and tend to increase the total order amount per transaction. Get creative with the presentation and test results. Would a “4 for the price of 3” offer generate more sales than “25% off when you buy 4” sale? One word of caution: Be careful with “get one free” language; it can make your legal staff shiver. If a consumer must purchase something to get something, then it’s not “free.” We often find they appreciate “gift with purchase” language better.
8. First time shopper discount: You’ve computed the average lifetime value of a customer, right? Take that into consideration here. By offering an attractive discount on the first order (which includes getting on your mailing list), you’ve done more than make one sale; you’ve gained another customer. And the potential value of that customer to your business is way more than the value of the first order. Way more.
9. Time sensitive discount: You can incorporate the persuasive power of urgency by setting a time limit on the price. If the sale ends tonight at midnight, the customer must make a decision or lose the opportunity to save. Don’t over-do urgency, but don’t neglect it either. Just be sure to make it real. Don’t be the store that’s always “Going out of business next week.” Be the store that’s offering a truly special offer for a set period of time. After that, it goes away and may not ever be back again.
10. The daily discount: By running specials 24 hours at a time, you can switch up the offer and keep customers coming back to see what’s on sale next. This also gives you a perfect reason to make daily use of your email list. Truefire, ecommerce provider of online guitar lessons, combines daily specials, weekly specials, contests, and give-aways during their annual Rocktoberfest celebration.
11. In-store pickup discount: This one packs double benefits. Not only do you (and the customer) save on shipping charges, but visitors to your store are likely to buy something else while there. To increase that likelihood, don’t send them to the back to retrieve the order at a customer pickup desk. Rather, situate the pickup point at a central location in the store. Let your employees go retrieve the order while the customer shops for more.
12. Free shipping: In every segment, ecommerce sites generate higher conversion rates when free shipping is a component of the offer. To find out for certain, test it yourself. Is the shipping really free? Of course not; it’s covered in the price of the goods. The converse of this offer is slashing the price, then tacking on an exorbitant shipping and handling fee. As a consumer, which do you prefer? Free shipping wins the day every time. Notice how Wigdeals (below) doesn’t just offer free shipping… but free shipping anywhere in the world!
13. Cart abandonment offer: This is sometimes accomplished via a pop-up while the shopper is still on your website, but even if that fails you can recover many would-have-been sales by sending an email to remind the prospect of the abandoned cart and adding in a special incentive for following through. The incentive can be an additional discount, free shipping, a trial membership… or any of a myriad other possibilities. The main thing is that your offer be seen as valuable and time-sensitive.
14. No special reason discounts: Out of the blue, send your subscribers a special discount offer just to say “Thank you for being our customer.” You can’t over-play this tactic, of course, but it can draw big results. No reason can be the best reason of all.

If your business is looking for some new ideas or just looking for assisitance drop us and email, we can help.